Chapter 4

Astrid stared up at the ceiling. The man, Hiccup, had left a while ago and the old woman with the staff, who didn't speak, was sweeping the floor in the other room. Astrid's first instinct was to run and hide in the woods. With her dragon-senses she could feel that she was only a few hours away from the spot where she had freed the Snow Wraith. She could feel the warmth from the ship's ashes. But then she realized that Stormfly had been on her way to Valka's. Stormfly would need until early morning to get to the nest, would probably have to rest of course, then fly back here. She'd be here earliest back tomorrow, late at night. Astrid signed. If she ran off, she would have to stay a whole day in hiding on this island. And the other dragons would probably track her down before Stormfly could arrive. It wasn't so bad, staying put. At least these people weren't dragon hunters. Astrid started to think. She remembered hearing stories about Berk in the taverns at the market. How it used to be plagued by dragon raids and now had dragon riders thanks to the tribe's heir, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock lll, also known as the "Dragon Conqueror". Astrid had to always snort at this title. Dragon Conqueror. Not even the members of the great Dragaci Coven could claim that they had conquered dragons, even with all their spells and charms, so how could a mortal boy or now man come even close to conquering dragons. The weird thing about Hiccup and Berk was that whenever she mentioned them to Valka, Valka slowly got a sad and longing expression. Astrid had wondered about Valka's human family, since Valka never talked about them. Astrid only knew that Valka had been taken by Cloudjumper to the nest nineteen years ago. And it was only these nineteen years that they discussed. Which was totally fine with Astrid, since she was nowhere near ready to talk about what had happened to her before her explorer days. It was one of the few silent understandings that Astrid and Valka had with each other. Probably one of the reasons why they got along with each other.

Suddenly the door swung open, making Astrid jolt up in her bed. A large man with a long, blonde, braided moustache walked in. Instead of a left hand he had a hook and instead of a right, flesh leg he had a right, wooden leg. "Sorry for frightening you lass," he chuckled. "It's alright", Astrid responded, "I didn't expect any more interrogations today." Just then Gothi walked into. "Don't worry lass, that's not why I'm here." He turned to Gothi. "Hi, Gothi. The girl's sleeping here for now, her meals will be served in the Great Hall, so bring her with you tonight." He then turned back to Astrid. "Today's Silent Sven's Birthday, so don't be surprised by the crowd, lass. You're more than welcome to join the celebration." "Thank you, Sir", Astrid responded politely. "Call me Gobber, lass. I don't need to hear those fancy titles. I'll see you both later." With that he left the room.

Astrid followed Gothi up the stairs towards the giant door in the mountain. Two huge Viking statues stood on both sides of the door. People and dragons were walking or flying to the door. Astrid couldn't help but form a pained smile, as she watched three siblings riding a Gronkle, one stroking softly the Gronkle's head and then a little girl clutching a Terrible Terror to her chest, like a cat. It reminded her of her old home, before it had been destroyed. When she walked in, she couldn't help but gasp at how large the Great Hall was. Only palaces and castles had such large rooms. Everywhere she looked she saw dragons and Vikings standing or sitting next to each other in harmony. She looked in front of her and realized that Gothi was gone. Astrid then felt her tummy growl. She was starving. She spotted a huge fire farther into the room and walked towards it. There she found a bunch of tables set in a circle, surrounding the huge fire. They were stacked with meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. Astrid saw woman in the circle and waved at the woman. When the woman came over, Astrid asked, "How does this work with the food? Where do I order and how many pieces am I allowed to have?" The woman laughed, "Oh no, lass. You can just take and take as much as you can eat." "Really?", Astrid asked astonished. "Of course. We have more than enough." The woman then turned back to the fire. "Thanks," Astrid called after. She grabbed an empty plate that was nearby, then she took some fish, yak meat and an apple. She quickly found where they had the water. In the end, she took a seat in a corner in the front of the Great Hall. She was surprised, but happy when she found an empty table. The everybody probably wanted to be at the back where the food, drinks and action were. Astrid preferred being alone with a book. Luckily, she always had one with her. It was hidden in a secret compartment in her skirt. She pulled it out and started to read.

"So, what was she like", Heather asked Hiccup as he came to their table. "Who? Oh, you mean Astrid, right?", Hiccup said as he set down his plate. "Her name's Astrid. That's a Viking name, so she's from these parts", Heather continued. Hiccup shook his head, "No, she said she was from a land called Spain. And trust me, her accent is definitely not Viking." "So, she has Viking ancestors", Fishlegs said, "I've heard of Spain from Trader Johann. He was never there, but a friend was. Very warm climate and they have a certain drink called wine." "Who cares about her ancestors, name or country!", Ruffnut exclaimed, "I want to know what moves she used against the hunters and where she got this awesome dagger." Ruffnut then pulled out the long dagger, they found strapped to Astrid's belt. The handle was wrapped with red thread, two dragon heads were craved on the right and left side, where handle and blade met, and the blade itself was engraved with diagonal lines. It was quite beautiful. "That's supposed to be at Gobber's", Hiccup frowned snatching the dagger away for Ruffnut. "Oh, come on. I'm sure Astrid won't mind. She wouldn't have her dagger in her hands either way", Ruffnut groaned and rolled her eyes. "It's supposed to be at Gobber's and that's the end of it", Hiccup responded, strapping the dagger to his belt. "Where is she anyways?", Heather asked, "Is she still at Gothi's?" "No, she was invited by my dad to come to the celebration", Hiccup answered as he started to look around for Astrid, "She should be here but I don't see her." Tuffnut suddenly got up and stepped on the table. It shook, two plates nearly fell off. "Tuff, by Thor, what are you doing?", Snotlot shouted. "Looking for the new girl", Tuffnut answered turning around, staring to the end of the room. "I see her. She's sitting at a table all alone", he suddenly exclaimed, pointing towards the front of the Great Hall. "Really?", Heather said and joined Tuffnut on the table, making it shake again. She looked where he was pointing. "You're right! She is there all alone." Heather paused. "We should probably go over there. Astrid shouldn't be left alone." With that Heather jumped off the table, grabbed her plate and cup and walked towards the front. Fishlegs, the twins and Snotlot followed the suit with no comment. They all looked very excited. Hiccup signed. Toothless was with the other dragons and he didn't want to be alone, but at the same time he didn't feel like being in Astrid's presence. He signed again, before grabbing his plate and cup and followed the others to the front. When he approached the table, everyone had taken a seat around Astrid, so he took a seat at the far side of the table and listened to the conversation.

Astrid had put her book anyway and started to think about her possible second interrogation. She should probably not talk about the nest or Valka. Suddenly she heard a plate being set on the table. It came from right in front of her. Astrid looked up to see a black-haired woman seat herself in the spot right in front of Astrid. Next to other woman, a bulky, blonde man and a black-haired man seated themselves. Next to Astrid were suddenly two twins. The female twin sat right next to her, while the male twin sat next to his sister and was opposite to the black-haired man. "Hi", the woman, "I'm Heather, this is my boyfriend, Fishlegs, the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Snotlot." "I'm Astrid", Astrid answered, feeling not quite comfortable with this group around her. "So, we heard you're from Spain. That's where exactly?" Heather continued. "It's south of the Barbaric Archipelago", Astrid answered coldly. She hoped her disinterested tone would give a hint that she wanted to be alone. Apparently, it didn't. "So, tell us about it!", the blonde man, Fishlegs was it, said, "We've never been outside the Barbaric Archipelago." "That's sad", Astrid thought, but instead said, "Hot. It is very hot there." "Does it rain?", Tuffnut asked. "Not that often", Astrid answered. "I heard that there's this drink called wine", Fishlegs said.

"Yes, there is," Astrid answered dully.

"Is it good?"

"Depends."

Everyone looked at Astrid expectantly for more information. When nothing came, Fishlegs asked.

"On what?"

"The color."

"It comes in different colors?"

"Yes."

Again, they waited. Then Fishlegs asked hesitantly.

"Which colors?"

"White and red."

"Is wine sweet?"

"Depends."

"Depends on the color?"

"No."

There was another pause. Fishlegs asked, now in an annoyed tone.

"Are there different kinds of wine?"

"Yes."

"What kinds of wine are there?"

"Sweet and bitter."

Before Fishlegs could scream the next question, someone shouted, "THERE'S CAKE!" "Yeah! Cake!", the twins cheered in delight and ran off to the back. "Leave some for me!" Snotlot shouted, racing after the twins. Heather quickly got up and pulled a red-faced Fishlegs with her. "My work here is done", Astrid thought to herself and ate the last of her food. That's when she heard the laughing. She turned to the other end of the table, to see the Berk's heir laughing.

"What's so funny?", she asked. Hiccup needed a minute to calm himself down. Thor, he had never seen Fishlegs so angry in his life. But he had to say Fishlegs' face had been priceless. "What you did to my friend. It was mean, but hilarious", he finally answered. Astrid shrugged, then drank from her cup. "You did the same with me this afternoon. Do all strangers in your life get this special treatment?", Hiccup asked as he scotched over to the spot in front of Astrid. Astrid put down her cup. "Most of the time." "That's not quite polite, you know", Hiccup countered. "Being polite is overrated", Astrid said, while letting her finger run over the rim of her cup. Hiccup studied her, while her eyes followed her finger. She was muscular, but still feminine. With her creamy skin, blue eyes and fair hair, she did look like a Viking. "She could really have ancestors up here", Hiccup thought. Then her eyes met his. "You don't like sweet stuff, do you", she commented. This caught Hiccup off guard. "No…I do like sweet stuff", Hiccup answered, "Why do you ask?" "There's cake, but you choose to talk to a professional asshole", she explained. Hiccup laughed, "You consider yourself a professional asshole?" "Yup", Astrid said with a small grin, "And there's no better kind of asshole than that." With that she stood up. "I'm quite tired now. What do I do with the dishes?" "Oh, just put it on the table over there." Hiccup pointed at a table that already had a few dirty dishes on it. "Thanks", Astrid said and quickly finished the task. "Well, goodnight", she said, then closed the door behind her. "Goodnight", he muttered after her. He was a bit disappointed that she didn't stay.